The present invention relates generally to fastener driving machinery and, more particularly, to a fastener driving machine having a head that is movable among a plurality of positions and that provides a constant torque from the head regardless of the position of the head.
Numerous types of fasteners are known and understood in the relevant art to fasten structures to one another and for other understood purposes. Among the various types of fasteners are threaded fasteners such as nuts, bolts, screws, and the like, deformable fasteners such as rivets and deformable threaded systems, and specially configured fasteners such as bayonet fasteners, among numerous other types of fasteners such as adhesives and welding operations. In certain applications, it is desired that certain fasteners have highly specific characteristics. For instance, threaded fasteners that are employed in the aerospace industry often must be tightened to a highly accurate level of torque to ensure the reliable and safe operation of the resulting structure. It is thus known to provide nut driving machinery that is configured to drive threaded fasteners such as nuts until the nuts reach a highly specific level of torque.
It is also known, however, that fasteners employed in aerospace applications often must be mounted within the tight confines of extremely small and cramped spaces to which much machinery can be inaccessible. It thus has been known to provide fastener driving machinery having heads that are movable among a plurality of positions in order to facilitate the attachment of threaded fasteners in hard to reach places. One such apparatus is a 17xc2x0 offset fastener driving machine that employs a motor, a gear apparatus, and a head, with the head being movable in a plurality of positions with respect to the driver, and with the gear apparatus offsetting the head at an angle of 17xc2x0 from a longitudinal axis of the driver. When the 17xc2x0 offset is combined with the ability of the head to be moved among a plurality of positions, the operative location of the head from where a nut is driven can be widely varied to reach numerous remote positions.
Such machinery has not, however, been without limitation. While such machinery is desired to provide consistent levels of torque to the fasteners it drives, such machinery generally has provided undesirably inconsistent levels of torque to nuts depending upon the specific position of the head. Such inconsistent torque levels can result from many factors, including mechanical backlash among cooperative components, the cascading of tolerances in structures resulting in the misalignment of various components, as well as other factors. It is thus desired to provide an improved fastener driving machine that overcomes the problems associated with other such machinery. Such a fastener driving machine preferably would include a driver and a head, with the head being indexable among a plurality of positions, and with the machine providing consistent levels of torque to fasteners independent of the position of the head. Such a machine may also include an apparatus for offsetting from the driver the range of motion of the head without affecting the ability of the machine to deliver consistent levels of torque independent of the position of the head.
An improved fastener driving machine and related method meet these and other needs. An improved fastener driving machine includes a driver, a support, a gear mechanism, an indexing apparatus, and a head. The head is movable among a plurality of position with respect to the driver. The machine is advantageously structured to provide a substantially constant level of torque to a delivery point on the head independent of the position of the head with respect to the driver. The gear mechanism and the indexing apparatus are both disposed on the support, with the result that the mechanical operations of the gear mechanism are separate from the mechanical operation of the indexing apparatus. The indexing apparatus includes a number of tapered first teeth and a number of tapered second teeth that are securable to one another in a number of configurations to permit the head to be movably indexed to a number of positions with respect to the driver. The first and second teeth are biased together, and the indexing apparatus additionally includes a lock that locks the first and second teeth into engagement. An improved method is also disclosed.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved fastener driving machine that has a movable head and that is able to provide substantially constant levels of torque independent of the position of the head.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved fastener driving machine having a driver, an indexing apparatus, and a head, with the indexing apparatus permitting the head to be movable among a plurality of positions with respect to the driver, and with the machine providing substantially constant levels of torque to a delivery point on the driver independent of the position of head with respect to the driver.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved fastener driving machine having an indexing apparatus that permits a head to be movable among a plurality of positions with respect to a driver, with the indexing apparatus including a number of first teeth and a number of second teeth, the first and second teeth being cooperatively tapered and engageable with one another.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved fastener driving machine having a driver, a support, a gear mechanism, an indexing apparatus, and a head, with the gear mechanism and the indexing apparatus both being disposed on the support, and with the support being disposed on the driver, with the operations of the gear mechanism being generally mechanically independent of the operations of the indexing apparatus.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved method of transmitting mechanical effort between a driver and a delivery point, with the delivery point being movable among a plurality of positions with respect to the driver, and with the mechanical effort at the delivery point being of a torque that corresponds substantially consistently with the torque supplied by the driver.
These and other aspects of the present invention are provided by an improved a machine, the general nature of which can be stated as including a driver structured to provide mechanical effort up to a given level of torque and a transmission apparatus. The transmission apparatus has a gear mechanism, a support, an indexing apparatus, and a head, and is structured to transmit the mechanical effort between the driver and a delivery point defined on the head. The gear mechanism is disposed on the support. The indexing apparatus includes a first portion and a second portion, with the first and second portions being biased toward one another. The first portion includes a plurality of first teeth disposed on the support, and the second portion includes a plurality of second teeth disposed on the head. The first and second teeth extend in a direction generally parallel with the direction of the bias of the first and second teeth. The first and second teeth are inter-engageable with one another in a plurality of configurations to permit the head to be movable with respect to the support among a plurality of positions, whereby the torque supplied at the delivery point corresponds substantially consistently with the given level of torque independent of the position of the head with respect to the driver.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved transmission apparatus for transmitting mechanical effort between a driver and a delivery point, with the driver being structured to provide the mechanical effort at up to a given level of torque, in which the general nature of the transmission apparatus can be stated as including a gear mechanism, a support, an indexing apparatus, and a head. The delivery point is defined on the head. The gear mechanism is disposed on the support. The indexing apparatus includes a first portion and a second portion, with the first and second portions being biased toward one another. The first portion includes a plurality of first teeth disposed on the support, and the second portion includes a plurality of second teeth disposed on the head. The first and second teeth extend in a direction generally parallel with the direction of the bias of the first and second teeth. The first and second teeth are inter-engageable with one another in a plurality of configurations to permit the head to be movable with respect to the support among a plurality of positions, whereby the transmission apparatus is structured such that the torque supplied at the delivery point corresponds substantially consistently with the torque of the mechanical effort supplied by the driver independent of the position of the head with respect to the driver.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for enabling a delivery point to be moved with respect to a driver while permitting the transmission of mechanical effort between the driver and the delivery point, with the driver being structured to provide the mechanical effort at up to a given level of torque, in which the general nature of the apparatus can be stated as including a support structured to be disposed on the driver, an indexing apparatus, and a head. The delivery point is defined on the head. The indexing apparatus includes a number of first teeth and a number of second teeth, with the first and second teeth being cooperatively tapered. The first teeth and the second teeth are biased toward one another and extend in a direction generally parallel with the direction of the bias. The first teeth are disposed on the support, and the second tapered teeth are disposed on the head. The first and second teeth are inter-engageable with one another in a plurality of configurations to permit the head to be movable with respect to the support among a plurality of positions, whereby the apparatus is structured such that the torque supplied at the delivery point corresponds substantially consistently with the torque of the mechanical effort supplied by the driver independent of the position of the head.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an improved a method of transmitting mechanical effort between a driver and a delivery point, with the driver providing the mechanical effort at up to a given level of torque, and with the delivery point being movable among a plurality of positions with respect to the driver, in which the general nature of the method can be stated as including supplying the mechanical effort at the delivery point at a torque that corresponds substantially consistently with the given level of torque independent of the position of the delivery point with respect to the driver. The general nature of said supplying can be stated as including operatively disposing a gear mechanism between the driver and the delivery point, supporting the gear mechanism on a support, providing an indexing apparatus having a first portion and a second portion, affixing the first portion to the support, biasing a number of tapered first teeth of the first portion and a number of tapered second teeth of the second portion into engagement with one another, and securing the second portion to the first portion in one of a plurality of configurations to secure the delivery point in one of the plurality of positions with respect to the driver.